Perrysburg council hires plan director, talks of hike in water rates

10/20/2004

Perrysburg City Council yesterday approved the appointment of a new planning and zoning administrator and discussed raising the city's water and sewer rates.

The city hired Richard A. Thielen, a longtime employee of the city of Toledo, as its new planning and zoning administrator. His starting salary will be $66,742 annually.

The city received 23 applications for the position, which had been vacant since the death of former planning and zoning administrator Doug Guest in May.

Mr. Thielen, 46, said he will resign today from his job as manager of code enforcement for Toledo's economic and community development department. He plans to begin his job in Perrysburg the week of Nov. 8.

Council also discussed a recent study of water and sewer rates by the Arcadis FPS engineering firm, but decided not to vote on raising the rates until council's Nov. 2 meeting.

The study recommends substantial increases in the fees for new construction to tap into the city's water and sewer service. For example, the tap-in fees for a typical new home inside the city would increase from $1,005 to $1,885 next year for water service and from $295 to $1,191 next year for sewer service.

Patty Reynolds, legislative analyst for the Property Rights Coalition which represents the local real estate industry, said she was concerned that the proposed increases for new construction tap-in fees were too high.